Installation and Setup of the AR HC4 Home Theater System

Installation and Setup of the AR HC4 Home Theater System

How to Place System Components 

Locate the Center Channel on top of or under the television or monitor. One of the Satellite Speakers should be located on either side of the television. Your Subwoofer must sit on the floor, in a corner to work properly. The floor and corner are actually a part of the Subwoofer’s design. Place your Subwoofer in the corner nearest your system’s electronic components to keep wire or cable runs short.

Diagram:

Connecting the Surround Speakers

Your Receiver will have clearly marked terminals for connecting the Satellite and Center Channel Speakers. The most common type of connection is spring loaded. Press down on the tab and insert the stripped wire tips into the opening.

IMPORTANT: Always connect the red (+) terminal on the Receiver to the red (+) terminal on the corresponding Speaker i.e. Front Left. Connect the corresponding black (-) terminal on the Receiver to the black (-) terminal on the same Speaker. Continue until all of the speakers have been connected in this manner.

Connecting the Subwoofer

IMPORTANT: When you make connections. make sure that the power switches of all components, including the Subwoofer, are OFF.

• AUDIO CABLES If you are connecting the Subwoofer into a system made up of separate components (preamp & power amps), you will need audio cables long enough to reach the Subwoofer from the preamplifier and the power amplifier.
• SPEAKER WIRE Typical speaker wire has a pair of separate conductors with insulating jackets that are molded together. We recommend that you use 16-gauge speaker wire for hooking your Receiver to your Front speakers. To make connections to the Subwoofer in parallel with the Front speakers easier, the speaker wire connecting the Receiver to the Subwoofer can be smaller (higher gauge number), since the Subwoofer does not draw large amounts of power through these wires.
• POLARITY All speakers in a system must be connected with the same polarity. Speaker wire is marked for polarity so that you can identify which wire in the pair is which. Polarity is shown by a color strip on the insulation, by ridges molded into the insulation, or by the colors of the wires - one copper and one silver. Strip the insulation from speaker wire ends to reveal the bare conductors before connecting to Receiver, Subwoofer or Speaker terminals.

IMPORTANT: Always connect the red + terminal on the Receiver to the red + terminal on the Subwoofer, and the black - terminal on the Receiver to the black - terminal on the Subwoofer. The same is true for hooking the Receiver outputs to the Front speakers: red + to red +, and black- to black-.

IMPORTANT: USE OPTION 1 OR OPTION 2, NOT BOTH.

Option 1 - Connection with Speaker Wire:</sp